Planning Checklist

A successful visit takes significant time to plan. Your schedule should be arranged at least one month in advance to allow for effective advertising.

Remember that people’s social and work schedules are often set many weeks or months ahead of time, so start early and keep track of your progress and goals for the crew visit. Also, remember to delegate! We don’t want our dedicated volunteers and supporters to burn out during this process.

With more than 70 visits each year, we rely on local volunteers to help coordinate many of the details. A Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew visit can do a lot more than train volunteers in sustainable trailbuilding – think "big picture" about how to leverage this event to make the most impact in your community.

Please print a copy of this checklist, share it with those assisting in planning and revisit it often. Check the sample TCC schedule at the bottom of the page. We are here to assist you with any questions you may have.

Figure out who can help you coordinate the TCC visit and assign duties. The outcome is often more successful when two or three people are helping to plan the events.

Reach out to potential partners/event sponsors. Your local Trek and Subaru dealers are good places to start, as they are the lead sponsors of the Trail Care Crew. Often they can provide Saturday lunch, social event swag, volunteers and free advertising. Specialized dealers might be able to offer swag and/or grant money for your project.

Decide if you want online registration for the event. Contact marty [dot] caivano [at] imba [dot] com to request a signup page on IMBA.com. Also, request posters to help advertise the event.

Reserve classroom for Saturday morning. The trail building school should run from 9 a.m. to noon. The crew has a projector and screen and needs a room with walls and electricity.

Arrange lodging for trail care crew. Most of the time, talking up the benefits of the visit to the Chamber of Commerce can get you a free or reduced-rate room at a local hotel. If doing a home stay, please make sure the crew has a private room.

Arrange lunch and water for the volunteers on Saturday. Again, remember to reach out to local businesses to provide.

Make sure you have tools for the volunteers. The crew only carries enough tools for themselves and does not work withmotorized trail-building equipment.

Continue to publicize the event!

Make sure to leave several hours on Friday for the Trail Care Crew to assess the proposed project. You do not need to flag the area beforehand.

Sample Trail Care Crew Schedule

A crew weekend is noon Thursday to noon Sunday.

THURSDAY

Lunch with the crew and weekend hosts (optional)

Ride with the crew so they can get a feel for the area to be worked on

Casual meetings (as desired)

Club care presentation (optional) - You may have two presentations in addition to the Trail Building School

FRIDAY

Five hours to a full day to assess proposed trail project site and flag it. Please no more than two or three people in addition to the crew. If you schedule a daytime presentation on Friday (usually Land Manager Training or Better Living Through Trails), please move this task to Thursday.

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The guidance on this website, and in other IMBA documents, is for reference only and should not be interpreted as a standard, specification or regulation.Mountain biking is inherently risky and could result in injury or death.